Project Cambodia

In January, I traveled with a group of California State University Fullerton (CSUF) journalism students to Cambodia to report on a medical mission. We stayed for two weeks to document the volunteer work of the Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA) based out of Long Beach, Calif. Sixty doctors, nurses, dentists and other health professionals embarked on the mission. While medical supplies were limited, the mission was successful in seeing 6,000 patients during the course of the week.

During our stay in Koh Kong, we worked on our projects at Cafe Laurent. Sarane Thean was our waiter and by far, one of the most memorable people we met on the trip. His mother survived the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. His father died when he was a teenager and since he was the oldest, he took care of his mother and four siblings. He learned English on his own, leading him to get jobs in the tourism industry. Now most of his siblings have grown and he is starting his own family. He often sings to his infant son to stimulate his intellectual senses.